You’re reading this correctly in that I have never cut my cable. I’m a TV junkie and I’m not ashamed! I don’t know if anyone reading is currently in the same predicament I am, but I thought this might help if so.
My History With AT&T
When I moved into my apartment almost four years ago, I was really excited to get U-Verse. Before that, I never had DVR or any premium channels. So, I got a mid-range package and HBO.
My bill has always been around $145, which I don’t think is bad — I have 300+ channels and I can record more than 300 hours of content between two TVs.
After I had U-Verse for around six months, I noticed they cut the Logo channel, which I watched regularly because they constantly played episodes of “Will & Grace”. I called AT&T to see what was up.
The general conversation was that they didn’t think it was that big of a deal — these things happen — and I still did think it was a big deal and they should cut my bill by a few dollars to make up for the fact that I had one less channel.
They didn’t agree, so I’ve gone this entire time without Logo and still paying the same price.
Nothing else really happened, or at least, that I noticed, until I wanted to watch a recorded news program the Sunday after July fourth. When I hit “play”, a blue screen came up saying AT&T had cut the channel. It was NBC.
Why I’m Pissed
AT&T cut NBC and now I could NOT watch my favorite news program, “SundayTODAY” with Willie Geist.
Now, I know this may not seem like that big of a deal. But, I used to be a news JUNKIE. I watched the news every morning, paid attention to it while at work, and would watch it for hours in the evening.
After President Trump was elected, I cut back, and once Matt Lauer was fired (rightfully so), I cut it out altogether outside of “The Daily Show” and “SundayTODAY”.
On Sundays, I try to sleep in and I then I sit and watch my show while I have my coffee and breakfast. So, that Sunday, without the show… it was not good.
AT&T’s Response
When I went to look on Twitter, all hell had broken loose and apparently NBC had been clipped before the holiday weekend ever began. Here’s what AT&T had to say:
On the TV Promise website was this generic statement basically saying AT&T had been “fighting on your behalf” and how they wished Nexstar wouldn’t do this, but they did…
Basically, AT&T blames everything on Nexstar, but when customers starting emailing their complaints to Nexstar, they pointed the finger at AT&T.
When other customers complained to AT&T via Twitter, AT&T said we should just watch our shows online or use apps. Ummm, hi, that’s not how it works and we’re all paying to have NBC, so give us our channel back!
Not only was AT&T not going to boss me around about how to use my data and internet (which is not through AT&T), but “SundayTODAY” isn’t even available online.
The even crappier part is that Nexstar also does these “negotiations” with DirectTV, and other customers complained about missing CBS and ABC. If I switched cable providers, this was likely to happen again. And, from my experience with AT&T in the past, they weren’t going to offer any discounts.
I Tweeted to them a handful of times asking what we were supposed to do; would they help us find a network that would provide the channels we wanted, etc., but they never responded to a single one.
My Solution to get NBC Back
So, after more than a whole month without my show, I bought an external antenna from Amazon (here’s the exact one I got). It was pretty cheap and had good reviews, but as long as it brought back NBC, I didn’t care.
It arrived and was easy to hookup, but I know nothing about how to set these things up. It had instructions, but I didn’t have the right remote (because of course I didn’t) to scan my TV for any local channels.
Ugh. I immediately ordered a basic remote from Amazon. I didn’t have a car or else I would’ve just driven down the road to get one, because it was a Friday and there was not much time between then and Sunday!
But the remote arrived the next day and I was able to scan for channels quickly, and it found 20 channels. I’m happy to report that one of those was indeed NBC, and it comes in just as clear as it did on my cable.
So, I was able to watch my show on Sunday — I had to set my alarm since I can’t record it — but it was worth it!
The antenna and the remote cost about $23 total, which I think AT&T should pay for, but at least I’ll have an option should they get rid of other local channels.
An Unexpected Twist
As I was writing this post, I clicked on the TV Promise website and they’d changed the language to say some customers were eligible for a credit. I clicked and signed in and I was eligible for $5! It’s not much, but I’ll freaking take it… brb gonna go buy some boba with my $5!
Cheers to the weekend, y’all.
For more life hacks, be sure to subscribe to the blog (look to the right) and follow me on Instagram @Orangejulius7– where I share more of my daily life. Live in the Baton Rouge area? I’m teaching a Blogging Boot Camp this September. If you don’t live in Baton Rouge, you can always schedule a Creative Session with me!
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